Batman: The Brave and the Bold: "Invasion of the Secret Santas" Review

Red Tornado and Batman try to save Christmas.

Although only four episodes of the new Batman: The Brave and the Bold animated series have aired thus far, I'm now confident proclaiming that any given episode of this series will likely live or die based on its level of gleeful goofiness and the charm of its silly, high concept premise. In general, I've been able to judge the quality of an episode based on how quickly the thirty-minute adventure breezed by, and for how many of those minutes a goofy grin adorned my face. In both of those regards, the latest episode, "Invasion of the Secret Santas," can be deemed a tremendous success, and the best of this series' output to this point. This wildly wacky holiday-themed episode included tons of moments that made me smile like a kid on Christmas, which is obviously this series' main goal.

The episode opens with the type of quick prologue scene I've come to expect from this series, this time with Batman and the new Blue Beetle preventing the villainous Sportsmaster from terrorizing a bowling tournament. The scene works largely because of the humorous Beetle/Batman dynamic that the pilot episode explored so wonderfully, but falls far short of coming off as inspired and energetic as that premiere felt as a whole. The episode then picks up considerably as it shifts gears to focus on its main story, with the android superhero Red Tornado attempting to understand the concept of Christmas Spirit as he and Batman aim to thwart the unapologetically silly rogue Funhouse from ruining the holiday for Gotham's citizens.

The specifics of Funhouse's devious plans are all mostly hilarious, and include faking a Neptunian invasion aimed at capturing Santa Claus and rigging the hot toy of the Christmas season (more Power Rangers than Tickle Me Elmo) to steal presents from underneath its recipient's Christmas tree. Though these plot points are all amusing in their own right, they're mostly set-up for a number of hilarious gags involving Batman, like the moment that sees the Caped Crusader punch the head off a rampaging robot Santa, then turn to two horrified young onlookers and request that they "pretend they didn't see that." Red Tornado also enjoyed a few great moments, and I got a good laugh out of watching the emotionless android attempt to understand the spirit of Christmas by decorating his house and singing Christmas carols at his neighbor's doorstep, which is of course done with the typical deadpan delivery of an android. The whole adventure leads to the expected pay-off of seeing both heroes realize the true meaning of Christmas, but the goofy exuberance of the episode went a long way in making both characters' epiphany moments seem fresh and inspired.

There is one significant flaw in this episode, and it comes as a result of one serious misstep on the part of writer Adam Beechen, who makes the mistake of trying to incorporate Batman's darkly violent origins into this light-hearted and innocent tale. I don't think anybody is prepared or willing to re-witness Thomas and Martha Wayne's murders in the same episode that sees Batman ride a reindeer in pursuit of an evil robot Santa, and I think this problem is symptomatic of the inherently contradictory nature of any attempt to use such a dark character as Batman to tell silly adventure stories. If this episode is any indication, I suspect this problem will rear its ugly head in future installments, and I can only hope that the show's writers will avoid incorporating the more mature aspects of Batman's character into these purposefully campy plots.

By and large, I had far less of a problem with the episode's animation than I've had in the past, and I suspect that's because the emphasis here is on humorous, high-paced action as opposed to strange alien environments, which the series' brand of simplistic, static backgrounds has had a tough time delivering in the past. And because the animation looks sharp and succeeds in delivering Beechen's very funny script, the end result is an episode that provides an awesomely wacky Christmas tale that can be enjoyed by children and adults alike.